Blue meter Technics 858US 8-deck. After 40+ years, they still sell.

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It’s up to $710 now. I was thinking of bidding on it when I first saw this. But now, HECK no! Somebody wants that thing pretty bad. I actually did some digging around since I recently bought my Technics receiver from Japan to see if they made a Japanese variant of this model. Bottom line is that they did, and it looks a lot different (hint color). I found one and won the auction for pretty cheap......well at least compared to this. Will keep everyone informed on the outcome. It will likely need servicing of some kind as was sold as ‘junk’ and untested, but I suspect that they just didn’t have a 8 track to test with.
 
Wow. It went for almost a grand. I have no words. Well.....I shouldn’t be that surprised as people on EBay tend to be impulsive. I just made close to a couple grand selling some old video junk in my basement that I was that close to tossing. I didn’t realize it had any value, nor am I convinced even now that it did!
 
$966 for a 858US. Even with blue meters, this has got to be close to Shocker Log territory. Amazing.
 
A small but growing colony of blank 8track tapes has materialized under my bed recently, with the hope of getting one of these, but not at that price :/

You’d better keep a watch out on that colony underneath your bed. They have been known to reproduce and once their natural food source runs out they are widely known to be dangerous. To be on the safe side I would suggest boxing them up and shipping them to someone who can safely dispose of them before they can do further damage. I would be willing to take on this challenge at the risk of my own life :).
 
Another one up on Yahoo Japan. Except it is a National Panasonic badged model and only records in stereo. Did Technics or Panasonic have a similar model for the US market? I think that I am getting addicted looking at these Japanese auction sites. So many cool pieces that you never see anywhere else.


https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x764485919
 
Another one up on Yahoo Japan. Except it is a National Panasonic badged model and only records in stereo. Did Technics or Panasonic have a similar model for the US market? I think that I am getting addicted looking at these Japanese auction sites. So many cool pieces that you never see anywhere else.


https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x764485919
4 ch play, 2 ch record. That's unique!
 
Consumers back then might be able with relative ease buy Q8 tapes. At home they would most likely be recording stereo records for use in their car. Or else where.

Didn’t Wollensak have something like this? I know.....if you are going to go that far they should had gone all the way. Maybe the cost of the record head was cost prohibitive?
 
Didn’t Wollensak have something like this? I know.....if you are going to go that far they should had gone all the way. Maybe the cost of the record head was cost prohibitive?
I don't know about Wollensak but I bet your right about the 2nd point. And associted 'tronics for recording.
 
You’d better keep a watch out on that colony underneath your bed. They have been known to reproduce and once their natural food source runs out they are widely known to be dangerous. To be on the safe side I would suggest boxing them up and shipping them to someone who can safely dispose of them before they can do further damage. I would be willing to take on this challenge at the risk of my own life :).
Too late, the tapes just held me up for this Akai deck, just a few minutes ago:
AKAI Model CR-80D-SS 8 track quad stereo tape player recorder | eBay
akai1.jpg

akai4.jpg

It may end up needing some work when it arrives but that's ok with me, it looks fair cosmetically, glad they accepted my offer, <$300 total.
 
Well that is good news. I hope it all works out well for you and there are little to no issues. I really dodged a bullet by offering to ‘kill off’ your angry colony of tapes living under your bed. Maybe they will be return to their normal state now knowing that they will no longer be ignored.
 
I'd like to try and record some of the quad conversions on my computer just for fun, maybe I can avoid having to buy expensive original Q8s for my car player, I do have one so far though: War, The World Is A Ghetto. I also have just one Q4 tape: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Illuminations(sealed copy), signs of a continuing pattern of quad addiction.
 
I purchased a few blank Q8's some years ago. I have an Akai deck that does reels and Q8's but started having problems with the switches, it kept losing one channel. I too was planning on recording a tape or two, just for fun. I might have to pull that deck out again sometime, and Deox the switches! The large motor of that machine in contrast to the toy motors used in most 8-track decks helps to make it one of the best machines to play Q8's on.
 
I purchased a few blank Q8's some years ago. I have an Akai deck that does reels and Q8's but started having problems with the switches, it kept losing one channel. I too was planning on recording a tape or two, just for fun. I might have to pull that deck out again sometime, and Deox the switches! The large motor of that machine in contrast to the toy motors used in most 8-track decks helps to make it one of the best machines to play Q8's on.
Is that the 1800dss? I was unaware that the Q8 section had quad recording capability.
 
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